


Christmas with the Montague-Budds

by MontagueBudd



Category: Bodyguard (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:21:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28236876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MontagueBudd/pseuds/MontagueBudd
Summary: This takes place over the days leading up to Christmas.
Relationships: David Budd & Julia Montague, David Budd/Julia Montague
Comments: 6
Kudos: 44





	1. 22 December

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is a little something I've been working on. Some chapters are shorter but it's the though that counts, right?

For the first time since they’ve started their relationship, they’ll be spending Christmas alone. Well, sort of alone. Three-month-old Zara probably won’t be contributing much to the conversation but she’s definitely spreading joy in her Christmas themed onesies that David insisted they buy. The older Budd children are spending the holidays abroad with Vicky. David’s mum had a hip replacement two weeks ago so his parents coming down was out of the question. Julia’s mother got roped into hosting the wider Montague family for Christmas. So this year, the Montague-Budds will have a nice and relaxing holiday.

“Julia, are you sure you want to make trifle? It’s just us two.”

“Are you scared it’ll be a disaster?”

“If it is then at least we’ll have my pudding that’ll definitely not be a disaster as back up.”

“Why are you like this, David? I birthed a perfect daughter for you.”

“Aye, you did. And I’m very grateful. It’s just that on occasion you’ve been known to burn water.”

“That was once and only because I was distracted. Stop worrying about the trifle and please focus on finalising the menu. Sarah wants our grocery list by tomorrow.”

“It’s done, it’s done. Are they still up your arse about us doing the cooking?”

“Not so much. I told them you’re doing the cooking and I swear all of them let out sighs of relief. Which I promptly ignored, of course.”

Their lives changed a lot since they’ve moved to Downing Street and they needed to get used to not doing everything themselves. Most of the stuff they agreed to let others handle but Julia firmly put her foot down when it was suggested that they get a night nanny. So, it was no to a night nanny, no to someone else decorating their Christmas tree, no to someone else buying and wrapping the presents and a big no to someone else cooking their Christmas lunch. David jokes that they’re either making the lives of the staff easier or ten times more difficult. Julia of course didn’t reply to him.

Zara suddenly starts crying and David jumps up. Not that he thinks anything is wrong with her, he just wants to spend every minute he has with her. Julia didn’t think it was possible, but it made her fall more in love with him. And she hasn’t stopped falling since. And David…he looks at her like she hung the moon whenever he sees her interacting with Zara. He loves the one-sided conversations she has with their daughter the most. Sometimes it’s about how stupid Julia’s cabinet is. Other times it’s about dinosaurs. Surprisingly, dinosaurs are one of the few things Julia doesn’t have an opinion on. But since her husband and stepchildren love the extinct animals, she decided to put in some effort and learn some dino trivia and share it with Zara.

“I think she’s been awake for a bit. So now she’s mad and hungry,” David says as he comes back carrying their tiny daughter. He watches Julia getting ready to feed Zara before he gently hands her over and plops down next to them. She latches immediately and Julia smiles and rubs her little head.

“This is will be her first Christmas. I know she won’t remember it, but I want it to be perfect,” Julia says and looks at David.

“So no trifle then?”

“David.”

“I kid. It’ll be perfect. Just us three. Do you think we were a bit mad buying her a gift?”

“I know you’re very excited to open it on her behalf so no, I don’t think so. We didn’t splurge or buy her something stupid so it’s fine. Also, I might’ve bought her a dress for the day.”

“You did? Where is it?”

“It’s inside. It’s still in the bag.”

“I’ll have a look when we go to bed.

They fall into a comfortable silence and David flips through the channels in search of something mildly entertaining to watch.

“You know I love your mum, right,” he suddenly says and turns to look at her.

“Yes,” Julia slowly says and looks at him.

“Do you know what I’m looking forward to?”

“Not having to stand for the duration of the Queen’s speech?”

“Yes,” David exclaims, and little Zara flings her arms. David pulls a face and rubs her head and softly apologises. “How did you know?”

“Because I’m looking forward to the same thing. She probably would’ve made poor Zara stand as well.”

Julia starts to laugh until she shakes and David joins in. It’s definitely different to have the house this quiet this time of the year. By now Ella and Charlie would’ve fought about something silly. Or Julia’s mother and David would’ve argued about what the best pudding is and both of them would’ve been riled up while Julia tried not to laugh. If David’s parents were here, she just knows his dad wouldn’t give his mother a chance to hold their newest grandchild and there would’ve been a lot of Scottish words flying around. All of them are definitely missed, but David and Julia are looking forward to spending this Christmas with their favourite tiny person.


	2. 23 December

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 right here.

“And that is how you make the perfect mince pies, Zara. Mummy doesn’t eat it so it’s going to be my responsibility to eat everything.”

David sneaks a quick glance at Julia, and he can see her smiling. And he knows she’s smiling because of him but she’s pretending it’s because of something on her phone. He starts to smile too because he knows what Julia is going to say next. He takes Zara out of the bath and places her on her towel and Julia takes her glasses off and turns to face her husband and baby daughter.

“What Daddy is failing to mention is that he eats six in the span of two hours and then he gets a tummy ache and farts the rest of the evening. It’s not fun. And this has happened every year. You would think he would’ve learnt his lesson by now.”

David starts to laugh, and Zara looks at him with alert eyes. He finishes drying her and reaches for a nappy. Nowadays she loves to pee as soon as she’s out of the bath. He’s about to open his mouth when the oven timer goes off.

“You go and take it out. I’ll finish dressing her,” Julia says and gets up from her side of the bed and walks to the other side.

When David comes back, he hears Julia animatedly chatting to Zara while she dresses their daughter. Bath time is a relaxing time in the Montague-Budd household. Zara doesn’t make one peep from start to finish and her parents love to entertain her with stories. David knows how worried Julia was about not being a good mother. The doubts sometimes still creep in, but he thinks Julia even surprised herself with how quickly she adapted. There were of course challenges and some tears from all of them but now, 99% of the time Julia doesn’t second guess herself when it comes to her daughter. Except two weeks ago when they bought new nappies and she accidentally put it on the wrong way. She could barely stop laughing long enough to tell David and instead lifted the babe to show him. Julia senses him watching them just as she’s fastening the last button and when she looks up, he’s standing there with a plate. She walks to the corner of their bedroom to fetch Zara’s playnest and plops it onto the bed for the little one to sit in.

“David. It’s not even properly out of the oven. Your mouth is going to burn.”

“It won’t. I’m putting it right here by the TV while I throw out the bath water and pack her things away. And when I’m done, it will be perfect. Trust me, Julia. Put on a movie so long.”

Julia swears David keeps looking at the plate while he’s busy and she almost wants to say that she certainly won’t eat it and that he must relax. She decides against it when she catches his eye and he smiles at her. Damn him and that smile that can disarm her just like that. He picks up the plate and settles on the bed next to them and then proudly shows Julia the little mince pie.

“It looks lovely, David.”

“You sure you don’t want a bite?”

“You know how I feel about that stuff,” Julia says and pulls a face.

David finishes the pie in record time and stares off into space for a minute and Julia swallows a laugh. He sighs dramatically and reaches out to play with Zara’s little foot. After another minute he sighs again, and this time Julia chokes on her laughter.

“You want another one, don’t you?”

“I do. Might even break my two hour record this year.”

“Go on then. And bring two just in case. I want to take a quick shower while you’re inhaling that stuff. This one seems to be more than happy just sitting here and staring at nothing,” Julia says and both of them look at their daughter relaxing in her playnest on their bed.

Julia showers with the door open and when she gets out, she hears David asking Zara if the animated Grinch movie is the same as the original.

“Ella and Charlie say it isn’t. They like the first one the best,” Julia says as she starts to do her night-time routine.

“Are you going to pump?”

“Yes. I want her to take the bottle when she wakes up to feed tonight. I hope she’ll take it.”

“I’ll do the feeding then and you can sleep.”

“You’ll be awake anyway because of the pies.”

“Aye, but I still would’ve done it.”

“I know. You’re lovely.”

Julia manages to pump without Zara wanting to drink and the little one manages to stay awake to witness David eat three more pies before she finally falls asleep in Julia’s arms. Julia gets up to put Zara in her cot and she takes a look at David lying on the bed. He’s pulled his shirt up and he’s rubbing his belly and she knows he’s fully aware that she’s staring at him.

“I’m fine, Julia,” he says without looking at her.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“No. But I can feel you judging. And I have to disappoint you. No sex tonight.”

“I’m fully aware of that. It happens every year. I’ll be back in a minute and I’ll give you a tummy rub."

Julia comes back after a few minutes carrying a tray with a cup of tea and a slice of cake for her. She sees David’s tartan pyjamas and can’t help but smile. David’s smile, on the other hand, drops from his face when he sees there’s antacid and a glass of water on the tray and he insists he won’t need it but he withers under Julia’s stare and takes one. She places the tray on the nightstand and gets into bed and he leans back into her arms when she’s done with her cake. David reaches for the remote because he absolutely needs to show her that Die Hard is indeed a Christmas movie. He falls asleep just before the end and Julia looks down at him and can’t help but smile when she sees him move his mouth just like Zara does when she’s sleeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	3. 24 December

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Christmas Eve!

Before she met David, Julia hardly bothered with decorating for Christmas or working out a menu, work was always more important. And then Roger got added to the mix and she started to like the holiday season even less as their marriage went on. David was a bit more used to a traditional Christmas but his years in the army and then life post-army didn’t treat him kindly. He once admitted that he only did it for the children. But since starting a relationship with Julia and getting the help he needed, he slowly started enjoying Christmas and all the bells and whistles that accompany it. He’s sure Ella and Charlie are also enjoying the holidays more now that their father isn’t doing it out of obligation to them. 

With this being their first Christmas in Number 10 and first Christmas as parents to a wonderful, yet feisty, daughter – David and Julia felt the need to keep some of the traditions they’ve introduced into their lives as their relationship grew. Some of it much to the dismay of the staff, but here they are, a few hours short of Zara’s first Christmas.

Julia can’t stop laughing as she watches David sing and dance along to Feliz Navidad in the hopes of getting a reaction out of their daughter. The song has been playing on repeat for a solid twenty minutes now and Zara is as unimpressed as the first time he started his little routine. David finally stops and switches on the Christmas lights before he goes to sit next to them.

“She’s a tough audience. You love it when I dance, Julia. Why isn’t she enjoying it?”

“She has better taste than me.”

“You want to say that again? Didn’t you one year, on your birthday no less, beg me to play the song and do the dance? Even handed me a party hat.”

“What I meant to say was that she doesn’t know what good taste is yet. She’s only a baby.”

“That’s what I thought you said.”

David leans over to steal a kiss from Julia and rubs Zara’s tummy in the process. She’ll one day probably hate it when they kiss in front of her. But right now, he can steal as many kisses as he wants to. Julia hands him the baby and he immediately settles her against his chest. Zara loves it too. David says it’s because of his chest hair and Julia needs to remind him that he’s wearing a shirt and David counters by saying that their daughter can sense it’s there.

“How many movies do we have left to watch?”

“Only one. You slept through half of the one we watched last week.”

“It was very toasty under the blanket. And you were practically on top of me the whole time.”

“That’s not how I remember it, David. You got handsy as soon as we started the movie and practically passed out after I swallowed.”

“You can hardly blame me. You’re very good with your mouth.”

“I know. You’ve proclaimed it on multiple occasions. Anyway, we have one movie left and we can watch it as soon as she’s gone down.”

David and Julia love their extended families more than anything in the world, but one of the many upsides of spending Christmas alone is the peace and quiet. It’s just gone six and all of them are already in pyjamas. David will later hastily pull Julia’s pyjamas off but that’s beside the point. They’ve had an early dinner; Julia made some pudding for them that they’ll enjoy when they watch the movie and their infant daughter is making cute little noises against her father’s shoulder. All is well.


	4. 25 December

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!
> 
> A girl is a bit tipsy right now so please report any and all mistakes to me.

The look of utter love on David’s face when he sees Julia entering the room makes Julia’s heart burst.

“You two match,” David says and he looks down at Zara in his lap.

Julia walks over to them and bends down to give each of them a kiss and she feels David stroking the material of her dress. The excitement she felt when she saw a little navy-blue velvet dress with a white lace collar for Zara was out of this world. When she told David about it the other day she couldn’t stop laughing. What she didn’t tell him was that as she was making her way towards the registers to pay, she saw a dress in a similar colour and material for herself and didn’t think twice about it. She contemplated returning it because matching with her infant seemed silly but now, she’s glad that she didn’t.

“Let me take a picture of you two,” David says and stands up. He hands Zara over to her mother and reaches for his phone. Julia shifts the little girl to her right arm and points to David and he manages to snap a picture of her looking at him before she’s distracted by something else. Julia hands Zara back to him to take a picture of her two babies, as she likes to call them before David insists that they take a selfie as well.

“David, did you try on the socks,” Julia asks when she sees one pair of new socks discarded on the couch. This year they decided to open the stockings while in their pyjamas and will open the proper presents in their Christmas clothes.

“I couldn’t help myself. They looked so fluffy. And I can now say that I was correct in my assumptions.”

Julia chuckles and puts Zara in her playnest and she sits next to the little one on the couch. David sits on the seat closest to the tree so that he can hand the gifts to her.

“This one is from Zara,” David says and hands rather flat gift to Julia. She curiously looks at him and when she has it in her hands, she flips it over to peel the tape away. With the back of the gift exposed, she sees it’s a frame and when she turns the gift over and tears the paper away to see the front, she loudly gasps, and her head whips up to look at David. He sees the tears in her eyes and she looks back at the framed photograph again.

“I haven’t seen this one before,” Julia says as she clears her throat. She can’t tear her eyes away from the black and white picture of her and a freshly born Zara on her chest. Her daughter looks so much like David in this picture. It’s the sad bottom lip, she thinks.

“I took so many pictures that day. I didn’t even realise. There are quite a few of you with your boobs out so I should probably delete that.”

“Aye,” Julia says and the two of them laugh.

Julia leans over him to grab his gift. She can feel him staring at her cleavage and she smiles. She hands him a box and closely watches his reaction. David unties the bow and takes the lid off. He gently pulls the gold tissue paper back and he starts laughing.

“Look at this! It’s me and Zara,” David says as he takes the comic book out of the box. He runs his fingers over the title and then he flips through the little book.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it! The Adventures of Daddy and Zara. It’s perfect, Julia. How did you manage to do this without me knowing?”

“Remember when I had to work, and you kept saying how incompetent Mike was because I was on maternity leave and shouldn’t be dealing with the stuff? Yeah, I lied. I was working on this. And I know you never look work-related stuff. The perfect excuse.”

“I should probably tell Mike that I’m sorry for calling him a fucking idiot behind his back then.”

“No, it’s fine. He is an idiot.”

David puts the book back in its box and pulls Julia in for a kiss. She places a hand on his cheek and deepens the kiss. It’s not long before their little person interrupts their tender moment with a fart. Julia laughs against David’s mouth and he pulls back and looks past Julia to see Zara. He rubs Julia’s back as she settles next to him to reach for another gift.

“This one is from me. I considered not getting you anything because you have me in your life so you don’t need anything else,” Julia says and it almost looks like she wants to pat herself on the back for her little joke. David tries to hide his smile but he’s failing horribly.

“I’m going to tear this one open.”

“Go ahead.”

True to his word, his gift is unwrapped in a matter of seconds and he opens the box. And not for the first time, Julia wishes she was recording this whole thing just to capture David’s reaction. He looks at her with a huge smile on his face and takes the rugby jersey out of the box.

“Is this the new one? I’ve been talking about the new jerseys a lot, right? This is perfect,” David says as he inspects the Scottish Six Nations jersey. He spies something else in the box and places the jersey in Julia’s lap and she rolls her eyes. David takes out a matching jacket and he can’t stop giggling.

“Unfold it,” Julia softly instructs. David does as he’s told and he starts laughing loudly when he sees the tiny jersey.

“It’s for…this is for her. She’s definitely going to be the cutest supporter, Julia. Oh, this is perfect. Thank you, I love it.”

“You’re welcome. You do a lot for us and this is the least I can do. But you missed the last part of the gift. It’s taped to the lid of the box. On the inside.”

David looks for the lid of the box and Julia hands it to him with a cocked eyebrow. He pries the envelope off and opens it. He takes out two rugby tickets and he looks at her.

“You’re coming with me, right? I want you to come with me. I know you don’t like rugby but I think you’ll enjoy it.”

“I am. It’s a home game so I thought it would be nice to spend the weekend with your parents. We haven’t seen them in a while and I know you want them to spend some time with Zara.”

“Julia…I. I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I like making you happy.”

“Oh that you do,” David says and runs his hand up her thigh. Julia playfully swats his hand away. He leans down to grab her gift and she can see that he’s nervous. She takes his hand and brings it to her mouth and gives it a light kiss. She starts opening the gift and he gets up to pick up a fidgety Zara and he settles next to Julia again. Julia starts tearing at the paper and David can’t help but laugh because he knows she learnt that from him.

“You can return it if you don’t like it or want something else instead.”

“I’m sure I’ll love it, relax.”

Julia wants to say something else but stops immediately when she sees what he got her. A record player. Her wonderful husband got her a record player.

“I remember right before Zara was born you were telling me about the old record player your parents used to have and how you loved listening to music on it with your dad. And I know you wish he could’ve met her. I just thought you and Zara could do the same thing.”

Julia wipes the tears away and places the box on the floor before she turns to face her husband and daughter. She runs a hand over Zara’s cheek and then she looks at David and smiles warmly.

“Thank you, David. Not just for this but for everything. You’ve seen me at my absolute lowest and you stuck around. You know I sometimes still struggle to tell you exactly how I feel about you but it’s because I’ve never felt this way about anyone. And you gave me my baby girl. And two older babies that don’t want to be called babies. I never wanted to place my happiness in someone but with you I have no choice. You are wonderful and caring and you love me just as I am. And you’re the greatest dad ever.”

“And I’m good in bed.”

“Very good. Sometimes too good. You made me late for the meeting when we were in Germany for that summit. But jokes aside. I love you and thank you for everything.”

“You shouldn’t be thanking me for sticking around. That’s what you do when you love someone as much as I love you. And besides, you know I…you know I wasn’t in a good place and I wouldn’t have blamed you for leaving me. But you didn’t. You gave me space when I needed space and loved me when I needed it the most. And then this one who is currently silently farting came along and it just felt right, you know? I don’t know how else to describe it. I love you, Julia. And I feel I don’t say it enough.”

“So I guess we’re stuck with each other then, huh,” Julia says and laughs.

“I guess so. Now, it’s time for little miss Zara’s gift.”

“Yes. The big showstopper. I know this is the one you’ve been looking forward to.”

David hands Zara to Julia and leaps for the box that contains Zara’s gift. Julia shifts their daughter so that she can see David and he makes a big show of opening the box.

“Mummy and Daddy know that right now you only like Mummy’s boobs, sleep and my chest hair but we decided to buy this for you. You can give him…or her a name when you get older” David says and shows her the stuffed T-Rex.

“Was it this big when we bought it? I feel like it’s bigger now,” Julia says and David places the dinosaur in Julia’s lap.

“It’s almost as big as her,” David says and laughs.

He reaches for his phone to take a couple of snaps and he catches himself staring at the pictures. He snaps out of it when Julia asks him to warm up some milk for Zara and when he comes back, he sees his daughter staring intently up at her mother. He suspects that’s how he also looks at Julia. It’s difficult not to, honestly. He watches Julia effortlessly switch Zara into her feeding position and the little one greedily takes the bottle. David and Julia have had their fair share of good and not-so-good Christmases but this one might just be one of the best yet. Julia’s trifle wasn’t all too bad either.

***************************

Like the good little bean that she is, Zara went to sleep right after her bottle and allowed her parents to have Christmas lunch and indulge in champagne without any interruptions. Their proper clothes were soon discarded for old joggers and cashmere sweaters because it was simply impractical to cuddle in a velvet dress and dress pants. As the day turned into night and Zara once again fell soundly asleep, David brought out the bottle of champagne that they failed to finish at lunch. And as things go, they ended up in bed with Julia writhing beneath him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all of you have a happy and safe holiday! Thanks for reading. I'm sure I'll be back with more because David and Julia haunt me.

**Author's Note:**

> The bit about standing for the Queen's speech I stole from an episode of WILTY.
> 
> Thanks for reading and stay safe. And happy holidays!


End file.
